The value of sports should be fully utilized to build China’s sports power, enhancing people’s physique and health, said Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan while inspecting the General Administration of Sports in Beijing on March 27.

National fitness is vital to people’s well-being, she stressed. More sports activities should be carried out, gymnasiums in schools and other institutions should be opened to the public, and more athletic facilities should be added to encourage people to do more exercises.

Competitive sports should play a leading role, for which a stimulating and security mechanism should be improved for coaches and athletes, the recruitment channel for talent should be expanded, and sporting events of relative weakness should be overcome while refining the strong points, the vice-premier said.

The vice-premier also urged a full preparation of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on a green, sharing, open and clean basis, bringing along 300 million Chinese to participate in ice and snow sports.

She also encouraged the athletes to strive for the best record in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The development of the sports industry should be integrated with the health, elderly care, culture, and tourism industries, and nurture new economic driving forces to meet people’s constantly growing need for sports consumption.

China should drive forward sports reform, break down barricades in the mechanism that restrains the sports industry, and at the same time change the functions and work styles of sport departments to an efficient and upright fashion, she added.